Anish Shah-led Mahindra renews global push after cutting losses

Mumbai: After five years of exiting international businesses to cut down losses, auto major Mahindra and Mahindra is ramping up its focus on global markets through a niche pick-up truck segment, which has given it a footing in the South African market.

Its management said on Saturday that the company wants to target global markets, including South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, using this range of vehicles, but also wants to gauge whether it can build the segment in the Indian market through its new Scorpio Lifestyler.

The Anish Shah-led company wants to pursue a two-pronged strategy: expanding in global markets while simultaneously increasing volumes in the domestic market. In its latest offensive, it is also relying on its products rather than acquisitions or joint ventures in overseas markets.

In India, Japanese carmakers Toyota and Isuzu are the only players with offerings in the segment, which currently has an estimated annual sales of 4,000-5,000 units in the domestic market. A pickup truck has a passenger cabin in front and a cargo section in the back.

Mahindra is also open to expanding its manufacturing presence outside India through assembly plants if unit economics or local regulations require it to, but has no immediate plans, one of its executives told Mint.

“We had seen customers who want the pickup character, who want the SUV character, and who want the 4x4 character. If you put all of them together, Mahindra has the deep pickup expertise, and it has the deep SUV expertise,” Velusamy R., president of automotive business at Mahindra and Mahindra, told reporters on Saturday.

Its renewed attempt to scale in the global market comes after the Anish Shah-led company has spent the last five years exiting loss-making international businesses. Shah also completed five years as the group chief executive and managing director of the Mahindra group in April this year.

Mint reported on 4 March that the series of exits from international subsidiaries and associate companies in Japan, Finland and Sri Lanka in the financial year 2026 has narrowed the list of loss-making foreign companies for Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, which is resetting its international business to back profitable businesses.

The exits from international subsidiaries and joint ventures in the three countries have helped Mahindra and Mahindra shed companies that incurred total annual losses of about ₹313 crore, or 2.2% of its consolidated profit of ₹14,073 crore as of 31 March, 2025.

The push for a global footprint and the development of new segments in the domestic market comes after Mahindra rose to the number two position in the financial year 2026, dethroning Hyundai Motor India, which had held the position for 16 years.

With the company eyeing several international markets, its head of the auto division told Mint that it has not yet decided whether to open new plants outside the country.

Currently, the company operates a pickup truck assembly plant in South Africa with a capacity of 1,000 vehicles per month. In April, Bloomberg reported that the company is exploring plans to expand its assembly operations in South Africa, as Chinese companies make inroads into the market and local regulators mull hiking tariffs on imported vehicles.

“We are open to the idea but we will only do it when it makes sense according to the market's local dynamics. There are a lot of factors to take into account, which include regulatory aspects and free trade agreements,” Nalinikanth Gollagunta, CEO of the automotive division, told Mint.

Lifestyle pickup trucks

In the Indian market, Mahindra already has a sizable presence in the pickup truck market, focused on commercial operations with an extensive range of Bolero Pikup.

However, top executives say there are many customers open to lifestyle pickup trucks, which are popular in the US market.

“We want to gauge over the next six months how is the demand and map which geographies have the most willing customers,” Gollagunta told reporters during the press conference.

As part of its plan to build the segment, it will price its offerings aggressively from April 2027, at less than ₹19.75 lakh. While the final price is still pending, competitors' offerings are priced at over ₹30 lakh.